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History and Concept

In February 2006, SEI launched the Resource, Energy and Analysis Program (REAP): a software tool designed to track materials, carbon dioxide emissions and the Ecological Footprint through the UK economy by industrial sector, geographical area and socio-economic group.
 
To distinguish between different consumers, bottom up consumer spend, travel and energy use data is incorporated into the model. This tells us what and how much consumers buy. We can then attribute the environmental impacts of different products according to spend. At the regional level in the UK the model uses survey data, such as the Family Expenditure Survey and the National Travel Survey to tell us this information. At a local authority and postcode level these surveys do not exist so spending patterns are estimated using models and geo-demographic profiles. 

Between January and June of 2008, SWT undertook testing with the REAP model to assess its usefulness in measuring the impact of tourists rather than residents.
 
South West residents energy use, spend on food and consumables and travel behaviour were replaced with figures collected for tourists to attempt to generate a tourist footprint figure.
 
Although this testing produced some interesting results and conclusions, it was evident that the tool was not completely adequate for this purpose. The categories in REAP relate very much to how residents consume and this meant, in some cases, the level of detail was too high or inappropriate for tourism.
 
For other areas, the REAP tool was not detailed enough. For example, ‘accommodation' needed to cover a range of different types including hotels, caravan parks, self catering and B&Bs, which all have very different energy demands and resource use. 

A Bespoke Tourism Tool

 
A partnership was formed between SWT and SEI to develop a bespoke tool that could be used to inform regional tourism strategy and activity and an initial specification for a tourism footprint calculator was drafted in summer 2008. Two workshops were held in the South West to clarify the specification and to get feedback on the scope, development and structure of the tool.
 
Between July and December 2008, SEI and SWT worked together to design a structured, logical and attractive interface for the tool, refined and developed the conversion factors to relate tourist activity to environmental impact and identified, collected and collated data on tourists in the South West for 2006, to create the baseline for the tool. 

 

 
REAP Petite Launched Online
30 November 2011
Posted by: Ellie Dawkins

REAP Petite is now available online:

www.reap-petite.com

You can calculate your greenhouse gas and carbon footprints and the footprint of your community.

Register for free to join a group, make pledges and compare community results.

[More]
 
A REAP Review
29 July 2010
Posted by: Ellie Dawkins

The use of REAP in Scotland has been reviewed by the EPSRC ISSUES Project who look at urban sustainability.

"The Sustainable Urban Environments Programme is an EPSRC funded portfolio of research looking at ways of improving sustainability in the urban environment." (taken from www.urbansustainabilityexchange.org.uk, July 2010)

The full report titled "The Process of Knowledge Transfer from Researcher and Policy Maker to End-User" provides an analysis of the footprinting work done in Scotland and the use of REAP by Scottish Local Authorities. It is available here.

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REAP Version 2 Available Now
15 July 2010
Posted by: Ellie Dawkins

REAP Version 2

Please contact us to get your latest copy of REAP. Read the full news article by clicking more below to find out about the updates and what the type of licence you require.

See the REAP pages for details about licence costs and training packages.

 

 

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REAP Petite version 2
23 October 2009
Posted by: Anne Owen

REAP Petite has been updated and improved.

To download a free copy click here

If you are a license holder, contact SEI to get your new version.

 

[More]